


in pardoning that

by orphan_account



Category: Torchwood
Genre: Drabble, I should be working on so much else, M/M, Triple Drabble
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-06
Updated: 2014-10-06
Packaged: 2018-02-20 02:52:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2412275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Short Janto thing, set during Ianto's big exit at Thames House during COE. Angst.</p>
<p><i> Ianto knew this all, going in. He knew where he’d end up following Jack, and he’s said </i>yes <i>and </i>yes <i>and </i>yes<i>.”</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	in pardoning that

**Author's Note:**

> Very, very short thing that I wrote to procrastinate on a five-page intro to a lab report; crossposted from Tumblr. Probably shit, because I’m running on Red Bull and my hatred of humanity right now. The Frostiron and Cherik are works-in-progress, currently taking a backseat to my o b s e s s i o n with Torchwood.
> 
> Title from the Prayer of St. Francis.

Ianto says yes. 

He says, “Yes, sir,” when he’s asked for lattes and only, “Yes,” when asked for…anything else.

He’d been trying his luck with the stopwatch thing. If he’d thought for one second it would work, his sideways proposition over the corpse of a colleague, he would never have asked. Far too improper, that.

When Jack looked up at Ianto expectantly over the desk Ianto tidied, the Hub empty of all other life, Ianto said  _yes_. 

He kept saying it. Over furniture and in apartments and once at a crime scene, Ianto promised, _yes, yes, yes._

( _“I love you—“_

_“Don’t.”_ )

He’s so in love with Jack. He could never say anything but  _yes_ , except when Jack—

There’s only one time he says  _no_ , and he’s dying at the time, you see.

Anyone would be forgiven in those circumstances. Ianto forgives Jack.

Ianto goes to his death not with a bang, but with a whimper.

Jack will forget him. He swears at Ianto’s deathbed  _never_ , but Jack’s a whole universe of  _no_ , and Ianto can catch Jack in a lie at fifty metres even as he’s waltzing through the pearly gates. 

In a hundred years, a thousand, ten thousand? Jack will have forgotten Ianto. The color of his eyes (blue, was it, or hazel?), the lilt of his words and turns of phrase.

Blue,  _please_ , it was blue, it was blue.

Jack will never love Ianto, not like Ianto loves him. Ianto’s loyal and he’s brave and he’s beautiful, and fascinating, but Jack will never love him. 

It’s sickening, and it hurts the heart. Heart, yes, because Jack’s—Jack. 

Ianto knew this all, going in. He knew where he’d end up following Jack, and he’s said  _yes_  and  _yes_ and  _yes_.

He lets go of his thin tendril of life, cradled in Jack’s arms, and knows he chose well. Even if it amounted to nothing, a zero sum, he’s loved so hard and so long that he can’t stop. 

With his last breath he’s saying  _yes_.

Jack says nothing back. Jack never has.

**Author's Note:**

> This may mutate (I kid the X-Men fans) into a larger project; I'm not sure yet. :D


End file.
